Blue throated macaw

Q: If a vet always has to take blood to know what is wrong with a bird, then why do they do a physical exam at all? Drawing blood is fast, but the exam just stresses my bird out so much.

–Connor N., Bowling Green, KY

A: Vet visits can be stressful for a bird, but all parts of it are necessary to really determine your bird’s health. And because they are stressful, it makes sense that your vet be as thorough as possible so that you don’t need to ...

Jackie - a young female cockatiel with issues

Meet Jackie. A young, very friendly female cockatiel that is different from most companion birds because Jackie has a job. Jackie lives in an aged care facility (nursing home) where she provides “animal therapy” to the human residents who require assisted living care. As you can probably imagine, this little bird has become very important to the residents, as they are unable to have their own pets. Many don’t have regular visitors, so the companionship ...

Blue fronted amazon

Q: My neighbor gave me a 4 year old cockatiel a couple of weeks ago. She couldn’t keep him and knew that I have a cockatiel that I adore. Before I took Luca home with me, I asked a lot of questions about his favorite foods and toys and tried to get as much information about him as I could. I found out that he has never had a bath because he is afraid of water. I didn’t believe her when she told me this because my bird ...

Blue and gold macaw

I think that one of the hardest jobs here at Birdtricks is consoling owners whose birds have died. I don’t envy the ladies in customer service – sometimes it is heart wrenching.

Often people contact us because they need a shoulder to cry on – we all know how hard it is to find anyone who understands the way we love our birds. Sometimes it helps to communicate with people who you know won’t make little of your grief.

Perhaps the hardest is the contact with people whose ...

Linus hates nuts. I know…what self-respecting bird doesn’t eat nuts? He and I have discussed this at length and he doesn’t care. No nuts. End of conversation.

Some people have the opposite problem with their birds – they can’t get enough nuts and will complain, loudly, when they don’t get their daily quota. This can be a problem if you are the kind of owner that gives in to your bird’s demands -or the kind of owner that uses nuts to quiet vocalizations, as a distraction from mischief ...

In the northern hemisphere, we are heading into summer at full speed. The temperatures are already climbing and air conditioning is running round the clock.

Many people think of parrots as “warm weather animals” and surmise that they are most at home in high temperatures and humidity. Given that many parrots come from tropical climates, it is not an unreasonable assumption. However, summer is actually a season bird owners need to prepare for.

What most people don’t realize is that the hot temperatures of summer are far more ...